Tata Communications, the provider of telecommunications solutions and services, will hire 400 people and invest $50 million in its cyber security services business in the next three years, as companies look to combat the rise in cyber crime and data theft in India.

Tata Communications puts software, appliances, hardware together to make a solution for enterprises to protect their information from cyber security risks.

"Companies are generating a lot more data. All of them are on social media, run marketing and digital campaigns. There is a lot more thrust for companies to be online. They have the same cyber security challenges that individuals have," Srinivasan CR, senior vice-president of global data center services & CDN business, Tata Communications.Its managed security division currently accounts for less than 10% of revenue but is growing at more than 50% a year. The company expects revenue contribution from the division to be in the double digits by 2020.

"The Indian market is fairly nascent because cyber security awareness is growing. It is beginning to be seen as an important thing in India. Earlier, it used to be an after thought or was ignored. It is now being taken seriously with all the discussions happening around Aadhaar, privacy and right to data, ownership of data," said Srinivasan.

The Indian market is about $200 million comprising hardware and software applications versus the global market of $130 billion, said Srinivasan. Currently, the addressable market in India would be about $40-$50 million but is growing rapidly.

"Banking, financial and insurance companies are a big spender on security because banking data is the most critical data we ought to protect. Their budget allocation for security is very high. It is a big focus area for us," he added.

Tata Communications will be investing in building capability in risk and compliance, cloud security, identity and access management, analytics to predict cyber attacks and network and infrastructure security.

It will be hiring cyber security talent with expertise and experience in application, software development, analytics, big data and cyber security consultants. Eighty percent of the 400 new hires will be based in India while the rest will help the company expand its geographic footprint in the Middle East, Singapore, the US and the UK. At present, the company has about a workforce of 100 cyber security experts in the division.